Attack on South Sudan reporter sparks critical debate

February is the hottest month in Juba, the capital of South
Sudan, and Mading Ngor, a reporter and presenter for the Catholic-owned Bakhita FM, trudged his way through the
heat to cover parliament proceedings last week--only to be thrown
unceremoniously out of the assembly. "Before I had time to argue, four security
guards pinned me to the ground and dragged me across the floor, tearing up my
trousers," Ngor, a hard-hitting, critical journalist, told me.

The ensuing furor included apologies, a protest, an opinion
column, a committee investigation, parliamentary debate, the banning of Ngor
from the assembly, and finally, a parliamentary call to revive deliberations over
three media bills originally drafted five years ago. While some journalists
see the resurrection of those proposals as a silver lining, others -- including
Ngor -- are worried that debate over the bills in this heated atmosphere may
spell trouble for press
freedom in the world's newest country.

"If they do it now, it will not be the same bills we had
hoped would pass," Ngor said.

It all began, Ngor says, because he sat in the wrong place.
Normally he sits in the public gallery, but as he arrived on February 6 the
legislative assembly was reading out motions. "So I opted to sit in the other
section in the back -- the whole row was empty." An unidentified security
officer ordered him to be removed from the parliament premises. After Ngor
attempted to reason with the security officer and finish his reporting, he was
thrown out by thuggish force.

"This case is getting unwarranted media attention," Ngor says,
given that such incidents happen all the time in South Sudan. "I remember last
September the security almost murdered me for taking a picture in the
assembly." Later he found that there was no official protocol banning photography
in the assembly hall. Indeed, South Sudan has already developed a reputation for
allowing security operatives to abuse civilians with impunity, including
journalists. CPJ documented nine cases of security attacks against
journalists last year; in two cases the journalists had to be hospitalized for
treatment.

After Ngor was ejected, Member of Parliament Joy Kwaje,
chair of the Assembly's Information Committee, apologized and promised to
investigate the matter, according to local reports.
Speaker James Wani Igga and some other MPs denounced
the brutal action. Ten journalists marched to Kwaje's office, according to local
reports, and took the opportunity to air their grievances over prior
abuses. "Including a female reporter, Mary Ajit from the Citizen," Ngor said,
"Security slapped her in the face for no reason some time back."

"I am of the view that this incident has set the launching
of the struggle between those in the halls of power and those who love
freedoms, including of expression, because what was attacked was [not only] an
individual, but freedom of expression as well as the bill of rights," Chief
Editor Nhial Bol of the private daily Citizen,
wrote in a scathing column. The editor was admonished by MPs for claiming in
his op-ed, incorrectly, that they were "celebrating the beating of our
colleague."

Despite the initial round of apologies, the committee who
investigated Ngor's removal quickly dashed hopes for justice. "During the
investigation, we found out that Mading had more than 10 cases with the
security personnel of the National Legislative Assembly," Kwaje was quoted
as saying by the online Sudan Tribune.
She also said Ngor had refused to identify himself after security asked,
according to local
reports.

Some of the committee's alleged findings against Ngor,
however, sounded specious. "One of the guys [in the committee] claimed I always
came drunk to parliament but I have never even met him," Ngor told me. One of
the findings read out by Kwaje to the Assembly last week claimed Ngor was a
freelance journalist and did not work for Bakhita FM, local journalists told
me. Apparently none of the investigative committee listen to his popular morning
talk show on Bakhita FM, "Wake up Juba," where Ngor conducts interviews with
top political officials of South Sudan - including the Secretary General of the
ruling party, Pagan Amun.

Parliament ultimately decided
to ban Ngor indefinitely from the assembly after the committee's findings,
he said.

Many local journalists I spoke to suspect the decision to
ban Ngor is rooted in his professionalism as a journalist. Ngor's "Wake up
Juba" program explores issues few journalists venture to touch, such as
corruption within government circles.

Ngor grew up in Alberta, Canada, studying journalism at
Grant MacEwan University. "I came [to South Sudan] as a journalist because
independence is the story of the century, and I wanted to be part of that.
After losing my relatives in the war I felt a sort of moral obligation to contribute
to the country," he said in an
interview with The Seattle Times.

Meanwhile, MP Kwaje, among others, called on the executive
to bring the media bills back to parliament, local journalists said. The three proposals,
which would initiate a public broadcaster, create an independent press
ombudsman, and provide greater access to information, have been bouncing back
and forth between the ministry of legal affairs and council of ministers for
years. "Without media laws we are like footballers playing without rules, and
what happens is that anybody can blow the whistle and say these are the rules
-- his rules," said Jacob Akol, chairman of the Association of Media and
Development in South Sudan, which supports the laws' passage.

Columnist Zechariah Manyok has concerns. "What guarantee
will the media have that the bill is not going to be based on the anger of the
Assembly, making it a law against the media [rather] than a law meant to
regulate the activities of the media?" he wrote in the Sudan Tribune.

"It has not been easy and will not be easy at the moment for
the media in the newest country," said freelance journalist Anthony Kamba, who hopes
the publicity surrounding Ngor's incident will foster change. "It will only
turn out to be a safe haven when the media laws are passed," he said.

Tom Rhodes is CPJ's East Africa representative, based in Nairobi. Rhodes is a founder of southern Sudan’s first independent newspaper. Follow him on Twitter: @africamedia_CPJ

Comments

Media freedom in South Sudan is fadding due to persistent harrassement and intimidation agianst Journalists. There were several incidents happened to Journalists and are continue happening. Ngor's case is the worse which make the whole Government in Juba decided to protest against Madding Ngor. As a Journalist of this Country, am totally in distress because Democracy is being killed by Backpain Politicians. Reporting on sensitive issues specially Government failures, has become like milking a Lion in South Sudan.